Nothing But News
The Counter Culture Half Hour Fun Pit is a web series that airs on FreakyFace.com. New episodes appear biweekly every Saturday. It was created following the mass rejection of the creators from other online show providers. Strange claims that he's currently attempting to pitch the show to different online networks, so the show is now on hiatus. Strange had Netflix in mind, but turned on it following recent developments within the company. Strange sold half of FreakyFace.com to 21st Century Fox. Having recruited a cast of professional actors prior, as well as realizing he could get better access to Georgia's tax incentive program, Strange believed the sale was necessary. Since then, the series earned production partners in Fox 21 Television Studios and FX's production arm, a co-animator in Bento Box Entertainment and a stronger budget as well as a spot on FX's FXNOW app, making this series the first exclusive show to the app. Structure The series is presented as a Saturday Morning programing junction, complete with a specialized intro and presented with a late-70s/late-80s aesthetic. Following a fake TV show which a viewer changes the channel, it would begin with Bullfrogs, continue with a fake commercial and follow up with The News. Each are then followed up by a satirical PSA and a conclusion bumper saying what's to come (e.g.: That concludes the Counter Culture Half Hour Fun Pit! And now for 23 and a half hours of politics!) before someone shuts off the program. Plot Bullfrogs A crossover featuring the main characters from The Halloween Kids and Bud Life with Britney and Nicole, each going about their lives in Nevada. The four's main endeavors involve them attempting to take over Nevada's many ghost towns or them driving away people who may threaten the political balance in the state. It also makes fun of topical issues. Britney and Nicole get Alison and Colleen in a poker game and each try to live with one another. After the first season, the girls die, but get revived by a progressively lonely Charlene (from Commercial Break) and are moved to a triplex golf course home. They befriend their other tenants, Hailey and Day, a queer couple and Emily, a short-tempered nerd. Characters * Nicole (Sarah Michelle Gellar): A downbeat artist. She's rarely ever happy and seems to be annoyed by everyone. Nicole blames her personality on a very bad childhood and a lack of friends, which is why she tries to maintain her connections to the others, in spite of a clear lack of effort. * Britney (Linda Cardellini): A slacker and gamer, and somehow one of Nicole's closer friends. Britney is lazy by nature, but is strangely very helpful whenever she finds something that she's in to. She has a unique mentality when it comes to combat and strategy, given her love of gaming. * Alison (Aubrey Plaza): Won in a poker game that also included their triplex. Alison is quirky, talkative and resourceful, to the annoyance of the more cynical parts of her circle. She seems to know more about what happened to the girls before their memories were supposedly wiped, but these are written off as bouts of insanity. * Colleen (Jessica DiCicco): Alison's friend, also won in a poker game. Colleen is a meek and shy individual who prefers to speak to Alison more than the others. Whenever she does speak, it's usually to give sarcastic or smart quips that annoy the others. * Shane (Tina Majorino): A punk-goth girl who's obsessed with filmmaking. She has a dementedly calm demeanor which gets to everyone around her, especially her friends. Little is known about her. * Hailey (Elizabeth Gillies): An annoying, air-headed girl who's obsessed with toilet humor. She tends to not take things seriously, to the aggravation of the other girls. It's implied that she annoys them to take the heat off of other girls who have no control over their worst attributes. Has a lover in Day. * Day (Laura Prepon): Hailey's girlfriend. While she's established as a more sensible foil to Hailey and, to a lesser extent, the other girls, she is capable of being far more unpredictable and, in a way, more dangerous. The girls try to keep her personality balanced to avoid causing more trouble for themselves. The News The concluding segment. The News is a parody of CNN, poking fun at their outlandish nature and relentless focus on Donald Trump. Primary show runners like Don Lemon and Brian Stelter are portrayed through their stereotypes, albeit exaggerated for comedic effect. Episodes typically revolve around them trying to fix their reputation while at the same time try to find evidence to bury Donald Trump, ending with them either getting nowhere, getting distracted by something else or them getting humiliated when whatever evidence they find backfires. They would then cut the concluding PSA. Characters * Anderson Cooper (Dwight Schultz): The main protagonist, or a character that appears the most often. He often introduces the segment with a variant of "We'd normally start off with a good evening, but what you're about to see contradicts that sentiment." Anderson holds on to his past as a generally respected reporter and tends to be a bit arrogant and highly desperate if it means getting dirt on Donald Trump, but he seems to be a smoother operator than the rest of his team. * Don Lemon (Cedric Yarborough): Secondary protagonist. Mostly the same as Anderson, but his obsession with Trump holds a stronger grasp on his well-being. Tends to talk about politics, collusion and all else that's similar more often than anyone else, and usually gets the ball rolling on the conflict of the day due to his own ignorance. One episode establishes him as a white man dressed as a black man out of advanced disgust toward straight white males. * Brian Stelter (Glenn Howerton): One of the softer employees at CNN. Tends to let feelings cloud his better judgement and often calls people mentally unhinged, usually after he's caught in an ironic situation. Brian's effeminate and is a closeted homosexual, but feels like he's unable to reveal the latter due to his own paranoid belief that the president is plotting against gay people. * Jim Acosta (Rob Schneider): An egomaniacal pretty-boy who does a bulk of CNN's field work. He blames things like cut connections and disproven theories on people against him, in spite of what's clearly the main issue. * Wolf (John Ratzenberger): A formally well-respected reporter. He often tried to serve as a superior to the others at CNN, but his own obsession with potential Russian collusion brought him down to the same level as those lower than him. Major milestones and disprovals of topics that help give CNN views tend to cause him to take a leave of absence for the week, so he doesn't appear as much as the others. * Van Jones (Phil LaMarr): The persona non grata of the network. Van is easily manipulated, having fallen for Project Veritas far too many times and giving away too much damning information on the network. The others are more than willing to fire him over his gross negligence, but are unable to due to their diversity quota. * Sky (Kristen Schaal): An unpaid intern. While she holds ultra-liberal views, she doesn't agree with what CNN says, preferring to go by proven facts. She often tries to act as a voice of reason, but the staff get rid of her so they could go through with their plan of the day. In Rise of Cosby, she defects to the side of the girls of Bullfrogs and converts to a libertarian. * Ted Turner (James Woods): The owner of Turner Broadcasting Corporation. He often scolds the network over dwindling ratings and poor public relations, done via video conference. * Tucker Carlson (Owen Benjamin): A rival to everyone at CNN. While not respected by the majority, he still comes out on top when it comes to debunking his liberal rivals. He pities CNN and tries to get them to do the right thing, but is rebuffed constantly. Commercial Centered on Charlene, a girl who's overly-devoted to promoting a restaurant she works at, Squeaky Chicken, resorting to sinister means to get approval from key individuals and punishing those that refuse to abide to her will. The restaurant has locations that span all of New Mexico and Nevada. The commercial break segments were merged with the Bullfrogs segments in season 2. Characters * Charlene (Kath Soucie): The only prominent character in this series of shorts and an employee at Squeaky Chicken. Charlene is enthusiastic and bright, but dementedly so. She loves her job and the very restaurant she works for, and wants desperately for everyone to share her love. Charlene is said to be a tenant of Britney and Nicole and occupies the basement, where she maintains a relatively normal relationship with the two, but probably because they enjoy Squeaky Chicken. It's revealed that Charlene was originally from New Mexico (said to be in Las Vegas) and wound up in Nevada due to a mix-up at the airport, but remained since Squeaky Chicken's branches extend to both states. It's said that Charlene is Squeaky Chicken's longest surviving employee. * Number 15 (Mary Elizabeth Ellis): The only other employee at Squeaky Chicken, and Charlene's primary friend. Her duties vary, but her most prominent jobs are running the drive thru and working at the grill. Cast * Sarah Michelle Gellar: Nicole * Linda Cardellini: Britney * Aubrey Plaza: Alison * Jessica DiCicco: Colleen * Dwight Schultz: Anderson * Cedric Yarborough: Don * John Ratzenberger: Wolf * Glenn Howerton: Brian * Rob Schneider: Jim * Phil LaMarr: Van * James Woods: Ted Turner * Kristen Schaal: Melanie * Kath Soucie: Charlene * Marty Elizabeth Ellis: Number 15 * Elizabeth Gillies: Hailey * Laura Prepon: Day * Tina Majorino: Shane Episodes Season 1 Season 2